Bushings are commonly used in many different applications. One example includes the use of bushings with composite sandwich materials, such as a ceramic matrix composite (CMC) or polymer matrix composite (PMC) material, when joining or attaching the composite sandwich structure to another structural component. High temperature CMC structures may include a ceramic composite having a laminated face sheet with a core material. CMC structures carry in-plane loads well, but are not well suited for handling point loads, such as at locations where a fastener is needed. Bushings are useful in these areas to increase the bearing area over which the fastener load can be distributed.
Many conventional bushings are metallic. Metals often have a significantly higher coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) than the ceramic or polymer composite material to which the bushing is attached. As a result, when using a conventional metallic bushing that is installed through the thickness of a composite sandwich structure in order to secure the sandwich structure to another component, the metallic bushing will expand more than the composite sandwich structure as the assembly heats. This thermal expansion differential between the bushing and the sandwich structure creates an undesirable looseness in the bushing with respect to the sandwich structure as the bushing expands a greater amount for a given rise in temperature than the composite material. Conversely, a drop in temperature can cause the bushing to shrink more than the sandwich structure causing an adverse increase in bushing clamp load.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.